Kuwait Times

Published Date: March 04, 2007
By Fouad Al-Obaid

Today I will be discussing a phenomenon that is on the rise in our society. Lesbians it seems just as much as gays are more and more visible, and this is starting to cause a heated debate within our society. Last night while on MSN a friend of mine sent me a link to Youtube to a show "Sa'at saraha" (Arabic for 'An hour of truth') presented by a well-known preacher, Nabeel Al-Awadi. The show aired on Al-Rai and it's a testimony to the level of freedom of speech in Kuwait, for the show was rather explicit and brought up several interesting points.

The show starts with the introduction of the problem: A rise in the number of lesbians in Kuwait's schools. The show asks what can and should be done about this shocking situation.

The first few ideas are outrageous. The preacher claims that it is no longer safe to send girls to school because they might be harassed by aggressive lesbians who would either convert them or worse prey upon them sexually.
Al-Awadi is surprised by such behaviour, which he says has no roots in our Arab-Islamic societies. He says that even though in the Gulf, boys and girls are segregated they become sexual targets by some of their peers.

I wrote last week about the idea of having co-ed schools. One of the reasons to have co-ed schools and to mix both boys and girls is the idea that when together if anything they would perhaps fall in love and in the near future create a healthy couple.

Such a solution would not prevent same-sex relations for it seems that it is a global trend that is on the rise. However if boys and girls are together than at least the figures won't be as high.

According to a female friend of mine, at least half the girls in government high schools have had at least one either lesbian or bi-sexual encounter. In tackling the problem, several callers suggested some very radical ideas. One solution put forward was isolation. A caller suggested that girls caught engaging in such forbidden acts be kicked out of school and barred from any decent education.
Other solutions included imprisoning the 'lesbians' (I personally don't know how putting a bunch of lesbians into one cell would do rectify the situation!). Some were astonished that the parents are not doing their job as parents by not correctly directing their progeny towards the righteous path, and worse allowing them to become lesbians or even cross-dressers.

There are many points and certainly many questions worth pondering on when thinking of such a subject. For example, is homosexuality something that you are born with? Is it a defect in genetics? Or is it a preference just like some people prefer chocolate while others prefer vanilla!

Homosexuality as well as other taboo subjects such as magic, witchcraft and the sort will be topics I will discuss this week. Here is the link for all those that would want to watch the show some of you might have seen it in Al Rai TV those that missed it you can find it by typing the following link: (http://youtube.com/watch?v=MnukfbAyuiA)

Email me at fouad@kuwaittimes.net